


Agitation

by petcheetah



Series: August Prompts 2019 [8]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Sad Max (Camp Camp)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-12 01:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20163253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petcheetah/pseuds/petcheetah
Summary: agitation/adʒɪˈteɪʃ(ə)n/noun1.a state of anxiety or nervous excitement.At the end of summer, the truth comes out.





	Agitation

Max was more agitated than usual and it was beginning to affect not just David and Gwen but the other kids too. While Max was never a calm kid the way he had been acting for the past few days had everyone on edge. No matter what anyone did to try and get the reasoning out of him, all they would get was Max telling them that he was fine, that he was  _ always like this.  _ He wouldn’t listen to any complaints about his attitude. He would barely listen to anyone, seeming to drift in and out of his own thoughts in the middle of conversations. It was more than concerning and David tried all he could to try and get Max to open up. But, like always, Max continued to keep everything tucked away as far as he could possibly get them.

It wasn’t until a week had passed since his sudden change in attitude that they got their answer. The kids were chatting to each other, discussing their plans for the rest of the day, when Max suddenly shot up from his seat with an utterly enraged expression on his face. It was an expression close to the ones he had been making for the previous week, but somehow it was even worse. It was almost more  _ upset  _ than it was angry, but it was mixed in such a terrible way. David was unable to help himself from jumping up from his own seat. He took a single glance towards Gwen who had the same concerned look on her face that he knew was on his own before taking off after the boy. Max had already disappeared from sight by the time that David reached outside, but that didn’t matter to the camp counselor. After so long looking after these kids, he had been privy to all of their main spots they would head to when in a bad mindset. Out of all the kids, Max’s was one of the simplest.

David headed towards the counselor cabins in a rush, sliding in the key quickly when he found it locked, and saw the small boy curled up on the middle of the floor with his stuffed bear gripped tightly in his hands. David halted his speed immediately, moving over to the boy with slow footsteps, but even that had Max jumping up from his spot and turning around to face him with a scowl on his face.

But the scowl couldn’t hide the redness of his eyes or the tear tracks left behind against his cheeks, and David immediately softed more than normal, stepping closer to Max. But all he got was Max stumbling backwards, his eyes wide and suddenly terrified.

But Max had nowhere to run to, for David was standing in front of the only unlocked exit. However, David didn’t bother using that to his advantage. Instead he crouched down and held out his hands in a surrendering gesture, as if Max had suddenly become a wounded animal who needed to be carefully handled. And he might as well have with the way that he was trembling against the back wall, desperately trying to hold to scowl on his face but ultimately failing to.

“Max? It’s okay. Whatever’s wrong, I’m here for you. We’re  _ all  _ here for you. We just want to know what’s wrong.” David said, his voice calm and careful.

He took a small step forward and immediately stopped when he saw Max’s eyes narrow.

“Max…?” David called again, hoping to gain at least some kind of response.

Max remained still. For all of two seconds, before some sort of wall seemed to break and he threw himself away from the wall and towards David. The counselor didn’t know what he was expecting as Max reached him, but the tears that quickly fell from the kids face and his sudden barrage of admittedly harmless punches against his chest were not it. Before the boy could hurt himself with the amount of force he was trying to put into his punches, David let go of his inhibitions and pulled Max into his arms in a tight hug. The boy immediately froze and for the first time ever didn’t try to pull away in disgust.

“Max?” David gently coaxed, allowing the boy to talk whenever he needed. He didn’t mind waiting here, his arms around Max as the kid tried to hide the sound of his sniffles.

Max’s voice was the quietest David had ever heard it when he finally responded. His answer wasn’t anything like David could have guessed.

“It’s the last day of summer tomorrow.” Max admitted and something in David froze in response to the fact. He hadn’t even  _ realised.  _ He let Max continue. “You’re going to ship me off back to my… parents. I don’t… I don’t want to go back to them. And everyone else just  _ doesn’t care.  _ They’re going back to their  _ amazing families _ and I’m just going to go back and everything’s going to be  _ bullshit  _ again and they’re never going to let me come back if they’ve realised that you’ve  _ helped me.” _ _   
_ Max stopped abruptly and if David could see his face he would have seen the way that the boys went completely white as he realised what he was saying.

“Why would they…” David began, honestly confused.

The breath that Max drew in sounded almost too close to that of a sob.

Max’s next words were so quiet that David had to strain himself to hear it.

“This was meant to be a punishment. They wanted me to be quiet, to be better, because what use…” the words gained a chilling clarity, as if they had been repeated again and again, “because what use was a boy who could do nothing right except be their punching bag?”

And David froze, expression growing blank. His mind didn’t seem to  _ want  _ to understand what Max had just said, but there was no way for him not to.

Max must have felt the way that David froze because he began to try and pull away abruptly. David looked down and Max looked so utterly terrified that David felt his heart was breaking into pieces. Max’s agitation was gone, but it was replaced by something much, much worse. Something so scared, so unnatural on the usually so confident boy, that David wasn’t able to prevent the tears that began falling from his own eyes. He would have brought Max back into a hug, but this situation was more important than trying to hide his tears. His mind had already been made up.

He took hold of Max’s hand in a soft, relaxed grip that the boy could escape at any moment's notice, and he walked over to the landline in the cabin with purpose. And with a heavy heart he dialed a number he had memorized when training to be a counselor but had hoped to never have to call.

It took an hour for child protective services to arrive, and another, after a quiet and utterly terrified chat with Max, for Max’s parents to arrive in a police car.

When Max’s mother lashed out the moment she realised where she was, that was all the proof any of the authorities needed.

Max was surrounded by the other campers the moment the authorities were gone after telling him they would be back at the end of his time at camp. No one spoke, not even the ones who were more curious about the situation than others. But everyone had their arms around the small boy who couldn’t seem to stop crying. It wasn’t until in an agitated voice that he yelled at them to get off that the camp was able to breathe a quiet sigh of relief.


End file.
